Everyday I go to the Oilers groups on Facebook and see what the masses are chatting about and today I thought I’d address some of the things that are being said within said groups. Sometimes fans have some really great ideas that are well thought out and well within the realms of reality but sometimes you have to wonder if they getting hockey mixed up with competitive knitting. I’m not going to include the names or where I found these comments because it might be not be taken in the context intended.
1. “So here is my take on what I think the oil should do. Trade the soft 1 way #14. For a solid d man on the right side. Wow lucic in here. As much as I hate to say it trade nuge and some pics for a stud d man. Free up some cap space in case of injury. Just my thoughts.”
Alright, this is a pretty common thought online but there are some issues.
- If you think that Eberle is soft and can only play 1 way, don’t you reckon the GMs in the NHL are aware of that as well and that it might hurt his value?
- Who would be considered a solid dman?
- It’s this kind of comment where you have to wonder if some fans actually know what a good NHL defenseman looks like.
- If the Oilers acquire Milan Lucic, you have to consider the affect that will have on the salary cap, the ability to upgrade on defense, and what do the Oilers do with Benoit Pouliot, Pat Maroon, or Taylor Hall?
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins value couldn’t be lower at this point. Therefore the Oilers would be remiss to move him at this point because they aren’t going to get an even return for what boils down to a 1st line centre in the NHL. Forget that he was a 1st overall pick, he’s gone up against the NHL’s best centres his entire career so far.
- To add to the point above, the Oilers FINALLY have depth at centre and now we should deal one of them away?
- Who is considered a stud dman?
2. “Damned glad PC didn’t make a trade for the sake of making fans shut up. Love that he and Todd are building THEIR team. Take your time boys, I’d rather wait a bit longer and be spoiled for a long time then have you load the gun early just for a few years.”
- I do agree with this sentiment. The other GMs are overvaluing their dman in a disgusting way right now. Taylor Hall for Kevin Shattenkirk? What?!
- If we can just hold on, develop our players correctly, and not overpay on the free agent market; the Oiler should be in a fine place when those GMs are in a bad place come expansion draft time.
3. “Let’s not expect Puliarvi to play here right away. We need the Detroit Model. We need to play our NHL Players over 18 Year olds who need more time in Jr.”
- I am 50/50 on this statement. I think that Puljujarvi could be a special case because he’d been playing against men all year in the Finnish league.
- To put it in a little perspective, Colorado Avalanche prospect Mikko Rantanen put up similar numbers in his draft year playing for TPS in the SM-Liiga (56gp 9g 19a 28pts) as Puljujarvi did playing for Karpat (50gp 13g 15a 18pts).
- Rantanen then came over to the NHL and played 9 games for Colorado but failed to put up any points. He was sent to San Antonio of the AHL and proceeded to put up 60pts in 52 games. It’s obvious that he’s too good for the AHL and that perhaps he should’ve been recalled at some point.
- Puljujarvi could go to Bakersfield but there’s a good chance he’d be too good for that league but with that being said, if Edmonton can’t deal Eberle or Yakupov, then perhaps it would be a good short term solution until a trade can be made. But even then if he were to play 3rd line minutes in his first season, that wouldn’t be too bad either…
So folks I think the bottom line is thus:
Be patient, let the market correct and Chiarelli will get us the pieces we need to be a competitive hockey team. Also, keep this in mind, how much better would the Oilers have been if Klefbom and McDavid had played 82 games? Toss in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins not getting injured and having a healthy Jordan Eberle to start the year… It’s a very different story and one that doesn’t end with the Oilers possibly getting the best winger in the 2016 NHL draft…
I agree with you points but think that the defensive shortcomings have to be fixed without sacrificing Nuge Hall or Eberle .They are young and just coming into their prime the top Nine is close to being as good as it gets in the NHL . The young ones on defence are close to being good. I think we only need one good say number 2 defence man. Number 1’s no one is going to trade to yo without damaging their own team. We have next years number one ; Yakapov and one of our left hand D to trade with and that should be enough . Trading one of the top nine just creates a new hole.
I agree. Even getting a no.2 dman is going to cost Taylor Hall in this league. Want Roman Josi? It’s gonna take Hall. So the Oilers are going to have to be very creative and look at lesser options whilst developing within or until a big fish comes onto the market again. Adding a Ryan Ellis or a Jared Spurgeon would go a really long way I think.
We cant afford a big fish ,We are going to need every penny we have to pay for the kids in the future McDavid and JP and Nurse etc are going to cost mega bucks .Going after a big fish now and singing him to term is going to put us in Chicago cap hell.We need to grow our own D and sign them to economical contracts and then develop new ones as we lose the ones we have for draft choices. That is why chasing Lucic is crazy a big 6 million contract for 5 years will cause us nothing but trouble especially for a player on the down side of his career . He would want a no trade and then we are getting rid of all our “diamonds” down the road to meet our contract obligations to Lucic. Going after Lucic is a fireable offence to me .Besides we have much cheaper versions in Pouilot and Maroon.
This is true but there are only so many players that come along who are of Lucic’s style. I’d love to see him do a 4-5 year deal at $6M max then get rid of Pouliot. Oilers would only be at a -$2M then per year. One problem I fear is a 2nd expansion draft when McDavid and the likes would need to be protected.
I think the Nurse contract will surprise people. He did nothing this year worthy of much money and has never had a lot of offence. An RFA contract for a 20pt defenceman should be quite reasonable. Points are the expensive things. But yeah, Lucic scares me. 3 years? I’m in. 4 years? …. okay. 5 years? I bow out
Plus Pouliot scores EV points at a higher rate last two years. Damn injuries. Don’t know what his problem on the power play is though
The Rnh rumour baffle me. For yrs we seen players get pushed into roles when not ready. Mc draisaitl could and will end up being top centres but I wouldn’t be goin all in on it already. They trade Rnh, and without replacing a centre, then oilers are preparing to go with two kids that barely have two yrs experience between the both of them. Plus we have a coach that is more than capable managing ice time for the three top centres cause he did it in SJ. No harm in keeping all of them and by keeping them they might ended driving each others value up in the trade market come deadline or next yr. Oilers want a big stud on backend then only player I see capable of bringing one back in a trade otherthan mc David would be a t hall with extras.
Hall would be the only one to bring a top pairing defeneman back but teams would want more than him as you said and it simply isn’t worth it. Maybe next season IF the Oilers first rounder is middle of the pack we could see Hall dealt… You never know though.
Hopefully, Oiler management saw what Letestu did when RNH went down. If that doesn’t convince them they need to keep RNH, then nothing will.
Hammer. Meet Nail.
Spot on Mac.
I heard that Blues were looking for Eberle in the Shattenkirk deal. I would make that move and keep RNH. Then get Demers if possible.
Yeah but for me, it’d have to be a sign and trade for Shatty. There’s no way I’d be dealing a major piece like Ebs for him if I didn’t know I could sign him long term and if he’s going to want $7M per year…. that’s a lot of dough.
The Oilers cannot afford to be patient. They will want to open negotiations on a long term extension with McDavid next summer and McDavid needs to be feeling good about the organization or he will pull a Stamkos . He would be crazy to do otherwise.
The Oilers need to get balance on their roster now, including a decent defence. They cannot afford to put thier relationship with McDavid at risk. What’s McDavid going to think if the Leafs take a big step forward this year and the Oilers don’t?
We also have to start accepting that we are headed into Blackhawks territory where roster turnover around the core is going to happen, and that core needs to be made of three forwards and four defenders. It’s easier to rotate in forwards than defenders, as Bowman is learning.
Eberle is on the clock. So likely is Nuge. It’s when and for what, not if.
So if they need to spend Hall or Leon to fix the damn defence then so be it. I love me some Hall, but I love me McDavid much more.
Playoffs or bust, starting now.
THANK YOU. Not enough sense in the Internets lately. We have a hard time looking at trades from the other teams side. It’s not like they want to do us a favor and move a high end defenceman … because. Patience is key, I don’t think just signing Demers would be enough but I would rather the one simple move that improves us than overracting and making two or three that hurt us. Hall for Shattenkirk would be one of those. Nuge for Brodin is another. The people we can move those for aren’t available just because we want them to be. It’s going to be tough to get a good fair trade (a little overpay is acceptable just don’t do a Benning)